by lewlew100 » 30 Dec 2016, 16:55
Hi Lanfs - timescale and budget. As a 73 year old pensioner, both are limited!!!! Yes, that is the Brighton marina boat. The hull does indeed seem to be in a very sound but dirty condition, but nothing that a vigorous clean and polish would not sort out. The interior woodwork is also very solid, but very dark and streaky in places. I suspect the dark steaks would remain after sanding and I do not know if bleaching would help. I like the idea of trying to make the interior look a bit more modern, and to remake the furniture would be fairly simple as I have a flatbed cnc router with which I have just made the furniture for my self-build campervan. If the fridge works I think it will clean up quite well and it is easy to fit a new decor panel. The carpets will be replaced as the new colour scheme is likely to be white/grey to match the cockpit upholstery. Whilst the UH does look quite good in the photos, it is in fact very (evenly) faded, not evident until I saw the reverse side of the front cushion. The canopy hood will be replaced with new, but probably with grey in line with the new colour scheme. The cockpit really does not need much more than a good clean. The throttle/gear controls are very pitted and the engine/legs are missing. This leads me on to my main dilemma. I said in my intro post that it was a long story - well here is a small part of that tale. About a year ago I bought (ebay) an unfinished boat (hull and superstructure) for what is almost certainly the only unfinished boat ever to leave the Fairline factory. The boat - youv'e guessed it - a Carrera. The hull is orange and the superstructure standard white and the anchor locker and houdini hatches are missing, we call the boat Tango. The boat has the cabin deck head lining panel fitted, but no other internal fibreglass lining panels at all. The cockpit deck, engine hatch cover and cockpit/cabin bulkhead are fitted, but not the separation bulkhead from the "pizza oven"/engine compartment. No engine bearers have ever been fitted, But the transom has been cut out to suit a volvo? 280 or 290 (not sure which) leg. I have not yet done any work on Tango as it was my intention to source the parts needed first. I bought an old Sunseeker S20 which had been fitted with a new Volvo petrol package, a 225HP 4.3 GXI with EVC and a DPS-a 1.95 duoprop at the end of 2009 and has only run for 65 hours from new. My intention was to fit this package in Tango. The Brighton boat was bought as an intended donor boat for Tango, but is too good to break and is almost certainly the easiest one to get afloat with. Had this boat been single engined it would have been a no brainer - just fit the Volvo package!!! As it was built with twin engines to fit the single Volvo would mean significant modifications to the transom, but I have a friend with a large fibreglass factory and it would be a fairly straightforward, if very messy job. I do like the idea of twin engines (never had a boat with twins)
and I do like the idea of diesel, but I could not afford new engines petrol or diesel and I am also concerned that a twin diesel installation would put the trailed weight (my trailer has a carrying capacity of2850kgs) over 3500kgs. I shall almost certainly end up fitting the single engine as I think I will struggle to find a pair of suitable/affordable engines. Comments welcome. Well, that's it for now - good job you only have the expurgated version!!! Geoff.